International Innovations

My name is Diogo Costa. I
write about Innovations from Portugal and South America in general, with
a special focus in Brazil, even though periodically I also write about subjects related to other countries.

Every time a new ride opens, theme parks have to raise the bar in terms of what people have experienced before and want to experience next. You probably do not think about it, but the technology lying on theme parks is truly amazing and exceptional, in order to provide us with the amazing rides and attractions that amaze us.

Nowadays, one of the best ways to market and sell our inventions and innovations is through the Internet. However, a key to succeeding lies in taking full advantage of it - having a good-looking and functional website not only passes a better image of you, your company and your product(s), as it also makes communication easier and attracts potential costumers.

If you have that innovative spirit but also the will to invest on a profitable business, then know that you do not have to go in the darkness. There are some areas on the rise right now, in which you can make some profits while keeping the innovative goals at the same time. Let's get to know three innovative business ideas that are really safe bets for you to dive on.

It is becoming clearer and clearer that the future is mobile. Today's smartphones are not much different than computers, with powerful and impressive capacities. Also, computers themselves are getting smaller and more portable, and everything is becoming online-based. With this in mind, people wanting to advertise and market their inventions and innovations should give mobility a big importance.

POS, acronym for Point-Of-Sale, are the systems or devices that allow for transactions to be performed. In other words, it is the point where the costumer pays to the merchant in exchange for goods or services. Recent news showed that hackers are beginning to target these systems. If there is more than one POS, they are connected in a network, which gives hackers the perfect opportunity to act. Let's get to know the risks and possible solutions.

We all know that drones are, nowadays, under the spotlight. Not only are they being used as warfare, but they are also set to mark a revolution in the way stores ship their goods (like Amazon, who will deliver items using them). Now, a company developed by a 19-year-old, is planning on using these vehicles as means for publicity and advertising.

Computers, specially laptops, are getting smaller, thinner and more and more portable, but their chargers seem to not be following the tendency. Most of them are "bricks" that, besides being quite heavy, take up a lot of space when we travel around. In order to fix this, a new company has designed Dart, that is believed to be the world's smallest laptop computer charger.

Jim Saunders and his daughter, Jill Saunders, from Kempton, saw an opportunity for creating a small business when brainstorming how to prevent damages caused by deers to their trees. In a collaboration with the Lehigh University Small Business Development Center, they developed a new product, which is effective and not so expensive.

All houses, offices and stores have windows, mostly in order to deliver natural light inside them. However, sometimes the sunlight is just to much and, to block it, we use blinds. But these blinds are somewhat inaesthetic and, for stores, are not exactly great for business. But all this may be about to change, because a Silicon Valley company has developed a special glass that blocks the sunlight on its own.

Taking medicines is something that should not be taken lightly and, at all times, the patient should follow all the doctor's indications, specially indications related to the dosage and the times when they should be taken. However, sometimes patients forget to take their medicines, messing up the recovery. Now, a smart skin patch has been developed that not only assesses the need of medication, but also applies the needed dosage in a given moment.